Ecuador to Draft New Bill on the Consultation of Indigenous Peoples, Without Consulting Them

Eight months after the COVID-19 crisis crippled Ecuador's economy, the country is pinning its post-pandemic recovery hopes on expanding oil and mining extraction in the Amazon.

Desperate to build investor confidence, legislators are drafting a bill on the "Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation" of Indigenous peoples. They hope to signal that Indigenous opposition, protests, and legal challenges that have halted projects in recent years are a thing of the past.

But legislators haven't bothered to consult with Indigenous peoples on the bill, and they have neglected to include the right to consent – the internationally accepted standard that acknowledges Indigenous peoples' autonomy to accept or veto any project or policy that affects them.

Ecuador needs a law on the consultation and consent of Indigenous peoples that comes from Indigenous peoples – a law whose construction reflects the very process it is meant to enshrine.